ART CITIES:Maastricht-CERAMIX

In collaboration with La Maison Rouge in Paris and thes Cité de la céramique in Sèvres, the Bonnefantenmuseum is presenting a large-scale exhibition about the use of ceramics by internationally renowned artists of the 20th and 21st century. The exhibition includes highlights from international Museums and Private Collections (Victoria & Albert Museum, Museo Internazionale della ceramica, Petit Palais, Marck Larock-Granoff, Isabelle Maeght, Alain Tarica and Luciano Benetton).

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Bonnefantenmuseum Archive

The use of ceramic as a sculptural medium has really taken off in the 21st Century and made an indelible mark on the art world. How can we explain this revival? Where and when did ceramics gain influence in the work of painters and sculptors? In which styles, movements, countries and production centres did this art form originate? These questions form the basis of CERAMIX. Under the title of “Ceramix-Art and Ceramics from Rodin to Schütte”, the works created by 100 modern and contemporary artists are being displayed, the exhibits include paintings (!) sculptures, installations and objects created using various techniques. The layout of the exhibition is both chronological and thematic. For instance, one of the rooms gives a chronological overview of the use of ceramics in the art history of Europe, the United States and Japan. Other rooms focus on various themes, such as The origin of ceramic sculpture, with works by artists like Rodin and Gauguin, the Otis group from California, with artists like Ken Price and John Mason, and Falling vases, breaking plates, with works by Picasso, Ai Weiwei, Anne Wenzel and Edmund de Waal. Finally, there are a number of monograph rooms that have been created in close cooperation with the artists: Katinka Bock, Johan Creten, Eduardo Chillida & Antoni Tàpies, Leiko Ikemura, Klara Kristalova, Luigi Ontani, Elsa Sahal and Thomas Schütte, whose name is already mentioned in the exhibition’s title, began working with clay in the late 1980s. It didn’t take long for this natural material to take a prominent place in his multifaceted oeuvre. Since the 1990s, his main focus has been on the human body, which he quite often portrays in monumental size. Later on, he started to devote increasing attention to male heads and female bodies.

Info: Curators: Camille Morineau & Lucia Pesapane, Bonnefantenmuseum, Avenue Ceramique 250, Maastricht, Duration 16/10/15-31/1/16, Days & Hours: Tue-Sun 11:00-17:00, www.bonnefanten.nl